Op-Ed: Congress Must Address Organized Retail Crime At Big Tech Hearing

As the nation navigates the new normal, retailers continue to safely serve our communities across the country. But retailers are confronting an economy that has undergone major shifts during the course of the pandemic, as consumers continue to buy items online in record numbers. This dramatic spike in online shopping makes brick-and-mortar stores even more vulnerable to a problem that has been growing for over a decade: organized retail crime. Organized retail crime refers to criminal networks that steal merchandise in mass quantities from storefronts and sell those goods online. Retailers have long reported costly problems with organized retail crime, and the Department of Homeland Security recently warned that third-party online marketplaces are facilitating the trafficking of pirated goods. But this year, in the midst of the pandemic, leading retailers say that these networks are becoming even more aggressive, which is consistent with past surges in retail theft during times of economic contractions. Read more at CNBC.